During various seasons it is customary to hang ornamental items from a door. For example, during the Christmas season, wreaths, candy canes, snowmen and other Christmas characters are hung from the front door to celebrate the holiday season. During the autumn season, various decorative items are hung from the front door to celebrate the Thanksgiving and Halloween holidays. The Fourth of July holiday is also celebrated by hanging decorative items from a person's front door.
The simplest technique to hang decorative items from a front door is to either hammer a nail into the door, or drive a screw into the frontal surface of the door. This is effective as the hanger remains stationary, but the nail or screw is unsightly when not used, and if removed, there is an unsightly hole in the frontal surface of the door.
Another commonly employed technique is to purchase a hanger that hangs over the top of the door, and down the frontal surface. This type of hanger is constructed with a hook to hang a decorative item therefrom. Such type of hanger is disclosed in U.S. Design Pat. D353,992; D494,844 and D746,127. The over-the-door hangers can also be made adjustable, as disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,553,823; 6,575,416 and 6,857,608. These door hangers have the advantage that they can be removed from the door and there are no unsightly holes in the door.
The conventional over-the-door hanger suffers from the disadvantage that it can slide along the top edge of the door. The movement of the door hanger can be occasioned when the door is opened or closed, when brushing against the ornament hanging from the door hanger, or by the wind which can apply a sideways force to the decorative ornament, and thus to the hanger. The inadvertent movement of the hanger allows the decorative ornament to move from its centered position on the door.
Many door hangers have a channel-shaped member that fits over the top edge of the door and includes a strap and hook arrangement that hangs down on the frontal side of the door to hang ornaments therefrom. The difficulty with this type of over-the-door hanger is that a single channel member does not fit doors of different thicknesses. Hangers of this type must be manufactured with different channel-shaped members so that doors of different thicknesses can be accommodated.
Door hangers can be fabricated so that with a kit of different parts, the hanger can accommodate doors of different thicknesses, different materials e.g., wood, metal, fiberglass, etc., and different sizes. The parts can be chosen from the kit and fastened together with screws, nails, pliers, screw drivers, etc., so that the user can make the hanger fit the particular door. This, of course, requires some skill and the availability of tools and the time to assemble the door hanger.
From the foregoing, it can be seen that there is a need for a door hanger that can be easily installed on a door, or removed therefrom, but yet is firmly anchored to the door without using nails, screws or tools. Another need exists for an over-the-door hanger that has spring-loaded members that clamp to the top of the door, thereby firmly anchoring the hanger to the door. Yet a further need exists for an over-the-door hanger that clamps to doors of varying thicknesses without the need for any tools to adjust the hanger.